How Eric Came To Be
by sheerio4ever
Summary: How Eric came to be so cruel, obviously there was a girl involved. "My life would be so much easier if she had stayed in Amity, I would have never have met her, therefore meaning my emotions would be less conflicted" *Eric from initiation, Tobias and Eric are a little Out Of Character because it is before they become full Dauntless members.*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent but if I did there would be a happy ending. Example: Uriah wakes up, Tris survives, Will is reincarnated and George and Amar can be together :) - you want to steal that idea? Please ask first so that I can read it :) **

**A/N: Okay, so I have lately started a weird obsession about Eric and my conclusion to how he became so cruel. Plus, he is kind of good looking in the movie, you know, if he took out a piecing or two and the tattoo on his neck. Okay, okay, Jai Courtney is good looking :) Anyway this is Eric and how he became cruel... because of a, you guessed it, a girl. And no, he isn't going to be a big softie, he's just going to be... less harsh. Have fun. **

**I know I have a lot of on-going stories, but on the bright side, this has a lot of pre-written chapters ;) **

This was it. It was the day that I got to make the decision of where I was going to belong for the rest of my life.

I didn't get much sleep last night, I had been tossing and turning with thoughts racing through my head. Pros and cons of each faction if I was honest. Like a true Erudite, I believed that everything had its need to be sorted out and categorised, so that the best solution could be found...

...Not that I really wanted to be a Erudite anymore.

Still, as the morning progressed, so slowly that it seemed to defy all laws of time, I found myself repeating every pro and con in my head. Only another hour or so to go and I still didn't have my mind made up.

Amity. Pros: Annoy family and eat drugged bread that _will _make me a happy man for once in my life. Cons: They are annoying. They are also high constantly, whether they know it or not.

Candor. Pros: I could tell everyone what I thought of them. Cons: I'd have no secrets and everyone could openly spread their guaranteed dislike of me.

Erudite: Pros: I know the ins and outs of this place. Plus I would be obeying my aptitude test. My true self. Cons: I'd have to put up with the annoying big headed idiots and my parents for the rest of my life. No thank-you.

Abnegation: Pros: It would greatly anger everyone I ever knew. Abnegation are Erudite's enemies. Cons: I am not selfless and never will be.

Dauntless. Pros: It would be exciting, unusual, awesome, my dream come true. Cons: I'd have to be fearless or at least hide all my fears pretty well.

All were such limited choices.

"Morning son, today's the big day eh? You'll finally be a real part of Erudite." My father entered the kitchen and sat down across from me, picking up a slice of my uneaten toast. This was the closest that we've been in years and even this felt cold. My dad was still convinced that I was going to stay in Erudite, and I wasn't going to contradict him until my name was called. "Are you going to eat that?" He asked, directing the question towards my second, also untouched, slice of toast.

"I don't know, I might wait until the feast later." If the other factions even had a meal in the evenings.

"You know," he continued, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Ninety-two percent of the time someone doesn't eat on a big day is because they are nervous, statistically speaking of course." He leaned over at the table towards me. "And you don't have any reason to be nervous, do you?" He gazed at me unnervingly.

"No, I'm anxious to get this day finished with, father. To really belong in Erudite, not just born and raised here, but a real part." My words were cold and emotionless, just as an Erudite's voice should be. I gave him a tight smile. Well, Candor was out of the question.

"Morning you two, hope I'm not interrupting anything." My mother swept in through the kitchen. Her glasses slipping off her nose as she scanned a book of medical science. A book she wrote.

"No, I was just telling Eric here that he should eat his breakfast." My father informed her. Often I wondered what was wrong with Erudite, there never seemed to be any love here, in fact there never seemed to be any emotion at all. Yet another reason why I wanted to leave.

"You know, ninety two percent of the time when a person doesn't eat, it is down to anxiety and nerves." My mother said, without looking up once at me.

"That's what I told him." My father smiled at her, although I doubt she saw it. She was still flipping through her book.

"You know what they say, great minds think alike." My mother replied. "Eric, be a dear and wake Lucy up for me. She wanted to be up early so that she could come to the ceremony today in..."For the first time my mother tore herself away from the book and it wasn't to look at me, it was to look up at the clock to calculate the exact time that it was until the choosing ceremony. Something that she wouldn't do for her son and husband, but would do it to be correct in the time. "In fifty four minutes. Go on, you know how long it takes her to get ready." Her eyes had returned to her book and she still hadn't looked at me yet.

I left the kitchen wordlessly, heading to my sister's room.

"Lucy!" I called banging hard on the door. "Time to get up or you'll miss the ceremony!" There was no answer. God, that girl really could sleep through anything. "Lucy! Get up now!" I shouted and hit the door harder. I was surprised that it didn't break. Still no answer. I grabbed the door knob and opened the door. "Lucy! For the love of God will you g-" I was cut off when I looked around my sister's room.

It was perfectly neat and tidy, as it always had been, but it was the bed that caught my attention. It was empty.

"Close the door." I heard a raspy voice say behind me. I did as I was told and turned around to face my sister. Since when had she a sore throat? She had never had a sore throat in her life.

"Lucy, what's wrong?" I asked, looking up at her figure emerging from the shadows. And then I realised that she didn't have a sore throat, she had been crying. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her lips chapped. Her skin pale and sickly. She looked awful. "Have you been crying?"

"Don't ask silly rhetorical questions Eric." She sniffed, upset.

"Why have you been crying then?" I asked, using all my self-restraint not to snap at my baby sister. Yes, at thirteen years old, Lucy was my baby sister.

"Because you are going away." She turned her head a little bit, so that I couldn't see her fresh batch of tears.

"No I'm not." I protested.

"Yes you are, don't lie Eric. Candor could quite possibly be your new home." She snapped, turning back to me. "Or Amity, or Abnegation or Dauntless, but not Erudite." I didn't know what to say so I opted for the truth.

"You know I can't stay here. I don't belong here. I don't want to belong here." I whispered. "I can't pretend to belong here any longer."

"But won't you stay, stay for me?" She cried, hiding her face in her hands.

"I can't, I'm not cut out to be Erudite." It broke my heart to see her cry. Lucy, my one and only weak link. How could I leave my little sister alone in this horrible place?

"But you are intelligent! And you enjoy being smart! You said so yourself and you weren't lying!" She protested, sobbing harder.

"It's not the intelligence that is bothering me sis," I confessed. "It's the lack of emotion. Even anger and jealousy is better than this day in, day out emotionless void." I sighed, knowing I'd probably just hurt her more by calling her an emotionless, genius robot - even if it was indirectly.

"B-b-b-but," her voice wavered, her eyes getting teary again. I pulled her into a hug, enjoying the human contact even if it was a bit uncomfortable. It was likely that I wouldn't get any touch or hugs for a long time unless I joined Amity. The other factions weren't big on intimacy either. "I'll miss you!" She wailed into my shoulder, arms clinging around me, holding me close.

"Well," I said, knowing that time was running out if she wanted to come and I needed her to stop her emotional attachment to me. It was likely that after today that I would never see her again. Statistics say ninety nine percent. "You are going to have to get over it, like I have. Faction before blood." I said in a harsh tone. Not too harsh but enough to shock her back into reality. This was happening and there was nothing that she could do about it.

"Excuse me?" She took a step back.

"I said," taking a deep breath. "Get over it or don't come, simple as." It was difficult yet surprisingly natural to be so hard on my sister.

"Well then," she fumed. Her temper was as bad as mine. "Tell mother and father that I'm not coming. I wouldn't waste my time on a heartless pig like you!" She shouted and pushing me hard towards the door. "Get out! And never come back!" She turned her back towards me, but as I opened the door and prepared to leave, I heard her whisper. "Goodbye Dauntless soldier, I love you."

"I love you too Lucy." I whispered back. "Good luck in Candor."

I closed the door in agony and rested my forehead on the smooth, painted wood. What was I going to do?

"Eric? Lucy? It's time to go or we'll be late." I heard my mother's clipped tone call from the kitchen. I entered and looked at her, capturing her eyes that were framed by the thin, professional glasses that she didn't really need, in a stare that she couldn't look away from.

"Lucy's not coming." I answered. I tried to keep my voice emotionless but some feeling crept in.

"I'm sorry son." My father replied, his voice holding no affection or sympathy. "We don't have time to convince her, we have to go now or we'll be running late."

"Seventeen minutes." My mother added.

I felt like throwing something at them and ranting about how much I hated them and how glad I was that I had made the decision to leave, but I didn't, I just nodded and followed them outside.

I no longer had a decision to make. Lucy had made it for me. I was going to be a Dauntless soldier.

. . .

I sat on the seats in the Hub waiting for my name to be called so that I could just get the hell out of here. I watched as Marcus Eaton stood on the platform and called out everyone's name after making his long, exaggerated speech. I watched as they cut their palm and sprayed their blood into their chosen faction bowls. Grey stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, glass for Candor, earth for Amity and lit coals for Dauntless.

"Tobias Eaton!" The Abnegation leader, a.k.a Tobias' father called out, smiling at his son. The boy didn't smile back, instead he scowled. He picked up the knife and slit his hand without hesitating. I guess it would be an easy choice for him. Once a Stiff, always a Stiff. He held his hand over the Dauntless bowl. I gasped, what a change, this guy was going to be an initiate with me. I heard the Dauntless crowd go wild as Tobias joined them, while Marcus Eaton looks horrified. His son just grins at him from across the room. But he recovers quickly, I'll give him that.

"Err... Dauntless."

Not much longer after that did I hear my name being called. I looked at my parents but they didn't look back at me. They thought that they knew, oh, but for once in their lives, they were wrong.

I walked over to where the bowls were, picked up the newly cleaned knife and slid it slowly across my palm. It stung like hell but it was worth it to get out of here. Biting the inside of my cheek, an annoying habit, I pushed my palm straight out in front of me and over the hot coals. As I waited for my blood to drip, I looked up at my parents. Their faces were filled with exaggerated shock.

"Dauntless!" I heard Marcus Eaton call out and as I caught my mother's eye, I copied Tobias, I smiled.

**A/N: I hope you all liked. Yes this is going to be continued, I actually have the majority of it written up already, thanks to organisation because it was really killing me to have to write a chapter for one story and then another, and another. So I pre-write a few chapters and post them up every week or so, ta daa! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

**A/N: Tobias is going to be OOC (Out Of Character) in this story, because he was different before he became a full Dauntless member, okay? So I am well aware that he isn't really like Four, but that's because he isn't. Not yet anyway. **

As soon as the choosing ceremony was over, the Dauntless began to run outside. I was pushed up beside Tobias and I nearly pushed him over. He was a Stiff but surprisingly strong.

"Hey, you all right there?" He asked. If it were anyone else they probably would have thrown me a dirty look, scanned me up and down, decided that I didn't look good enough to bother themselves with and walk away. But Tobias was raised in Abnegation, that would be the last thing on his mind.

"I'm okay." I huffed, annoyed that somebody cared. Dauntless was meant for the tough and cruel, the brave and strong - not the caring and weak.

"Wonderful. Now what are we supposed to be doing?" He said, jogging along beside me. He wasn't out of breath yet. How could a Stiff be so fit? Wasn't that something to do with vanity and selfishness? He must have really stuck out like a sore thumb in Abnegation.

"No idea." I answered. "I'm new like you, remember?" I told him, gesturing to my blue Erudite suit.

"Oh yeah, right. Man I can't wait to get out of these clothes. The sooner I leave my faction behind the better." Tobias looked away as he said it. It made me curious to the reasons that he decided to make such a giant move. I was about to ask when something caught my eye. The Dauntless were jumping onto the train.

"Oh God, they are actually jumping onto the train." I swore silently under my breath.

"Absolutely wonderful. We are being tested already and it hasn't even been an hour. I thought that I could get some rest first - I had no shut eye last night." Tobias complained.

"I thought that it was selfish to complain," I snipped.

"Well I'm not in Abnegation anymore am I?"He smiled. "I thought it was stupid not to know the answer to such an easy question." I gritted my teeth in irritation. One minute this boy seemed nice, the next he was annoying the living daylights out of me.

"I never liked being intelligent." I grumbled. "We are going to have to jump in a minute you know."

"I know, I only hope that I don't fall." Tobias closed his eyes. "I never did introduce myself. Tobias. Please remember it to write on my gravestone when I kill myself from doing dangerous, adrenaline rushing things." Somehow I didn't think that it was going to happen. He seemed... to fit in perfectly in a strange way.

"Eric. And I don't think we'll fall if we execute this properly." I contradicted.

"And how will we to that Mr. Know-It-All." A Candor girl came up behind me. "Please do share your secrets with us all before you fall and die." I balled my fists up and was trying my hardest not to let my temper go wild so that I could hit her.

"What's your name?" I asked her harshly instead.

"Marie." She smirked.

"Well Marie, if you don't want to be pushed off I suggest you keep your mouth shut. That is the plan." I glared at her, well aware that I hadn't even reached the Dauntless compound yet and I had already made an enemy. She shot me a death glare but other than that sulked into the corner. Coward.

"Eric, time to jump." Tobias reminded me, snapping me out of my rage. I was going to do this. I was going to belong.

. . .

Tobias and I sat on the train, side by side. He was the only companion I had that didn't seem to look at me in disgust. Half of these people had never met me, never talked to me, didn't even know my name yet they still judged me and decided that I was trash. How you identified trash, I never knew, but I knew that whatever it was about me, that I spread a bad vibe. I have no idea how, really.

"Hi." A small Amity transfer knelt down in front of Tobias and I. She had long, blonde, wavy hair and light brown eyes. She had a light tan, like most Amity born and she wasn't very tall or strong looking. I immediately disregarded her. Weak, small, quiet. She would be begging to be let out of Dauntless in a week. I threw her a glare. Maybe this was why people generally didn't like me. She returned it with a haughty glance.

"Fine then." She turned to face only Tobias. "Hi. Are you friendly or are you going to try burst me into flames too."

"Nope, I'm relatively friendly." Tobias laughed. "What's up?"

"Well, you may or may not have noticed, but people are starting to jump off the train." She glanced at the open doors dismayingly.

"What?" I gasped. Were they trying to kill us all?

"I wasn't talking to you." She replied stiffly and began to turn away but I grabbed her arm hurriedly.

"Okay I'm sorry, please tell me more." I didn't usually apologize but this was for a special case.

"Okay then!" The Amity girl spun around and smiled broadly at me. "I'm Mai!" I had to bite my tongue to prevent a smart comment coming out of my mouth. I had asked her for more information about the train, not her name and possibly life story. What was it with everyone around here?

"I was just saying," she turned back to search for Tobias who was now standing up and stretching. "Before I was so rudely interrupted." She glared at me softly. "That people are starting to jump off the train, from the very top carriage. I guess we'll be expected to jump soon." No longer were the words out of her mouth did the Dauntless leader, Max, walk up behind her.

"Right you are Amity. Now it's your turn to jump. Ready yourselves." And he tapped Mai's shoulder and walked away. After that acquaintance, she seemed spooked, but hurriedly straightened herself up and brushed it off. I instantly felt protective, like I should go and punch Max or something, but I brushed it off. Why would I defend this girl?

"You heard him," she said shakily. "Let's get ready." She pushed through a crowd of people who were readying themselves to jump, nervous energy pouring off them. She disappeared easily into the crowd.

"She was nice." Tobias murmured, scanning the crowd, probably trying to identify her.

"No," I objected. "She was crazy. What Amity transfers to Dauntless if they are clearly not Dauntless material. Would she like to get herself killed?" I fumed. Why was I worried about her getting herself killed?

"Maybe she is meant for Dauntless but doesn't let it show." Tobias suggested.

"I don't know." I answered. "But it's time to jump."

We readied ourselves, starting at the back of the train for greater running distance. As soon as the entrance was relatively clear, we started to run, getting nearer and nearer to the door and then - we were flying through the air and it felt glorious. I fell on my knees and probably grazed them off the stones, while Tobias fell on his side, hitting his hip but laughing off the pain.

"That. Was. Awesome." He gasped.

"I know right?" I grinned. I had never felt like that in all of my life. I had never felt... so alive!

"Initiates, line up!" A voice roared across the roof, commanding, and gaining, everyone's attention. "This is to test your bravery, trust and obedience to your instructors. You will jump from this building, down to there." Max instructed, grinning evilly as everyone took up the sight of the massive cracked hole.

"What's down there?" One transfer whispered, his voice shaking.

"I guess you'll have to find out and see." Max smirked. "Okay, who wants to go first?" Everyone, including me, shuffled around uncomfortably. "Come on, someone has to go first, and if you can't do it then you obviously aren't cut out for Dauntless and you may as well give up now, right?" He said the words with cruel satisfaction.

"I'll go!" Someone cried from the crowd. A tall guy, with dark hair, eyes and skin stepped forward, a huge grin on his face.

"Very well, go ahead." Max stepped aside to clear the way.

"Go Zeke!" Someone cheered from the crowd. 'Zeke' stepped upon the ledge, and turned around slowly to face the crowd.

"Peace!" He shouted doing a backflip in the air and flying off the ledge. We hear his shout of exhilaration get quieter and quieter until he was gone.

"Okay, who wants to go next then?" Max turned towards us cruelly, eyeing us all up. "No volunteers? Shame." He said ignoring the hands and cries of 'me' through the crowd. "I guess I'll have to pick someone then eh? How about you?" He said, pointing to me.

I gulped, my blood running cold. "Okay," I mumbled, walking slowly up. Tobias gave me an encouraging thumbs up and then I was on my own. I stood on the ledge and before I could hesitate I jumped head first, diving into whatever fate would lead me to. I only hoped that I didn't miss the hole and that there was a safety net or something down there. And there was. A net I mean.

I lay there paralysed for a minute all I could think was: I did it, I did it and I'm still alive.

"Come on, get off before someone else decides to jump and squash you. Max isn't the patient kind you know." Someone grumbled from the side. I slid myself giddily from the net. I heard someone's screams coming closer and closer and just as I was standing on my two feet again, someone bounced into the net after plummeting from the sky. Some random Candor guy with a ruffled suit.

"Name please?" The guy with the gruff voice asked. It was kind of dark so I couldn't identify him, only his outline.

"Eric." I answered, my mouth dry.

"You sure? It's your last chance to change."

"I'm sure." I confirmed. "Eric is my name."

And then I went to find the first jumper and wait for Tobias.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

"Okay, settle down initiates!" A voice boomed over the whispered, giddy chatter coming from everyone who occupied the wide, dark hallway. "I said settle down!" The voice roared again, this time capturing everyone's attention. Everyone turned around to face him, silent except for the occasional shuffle of feet.

"Now that I have finally got your undying attention," the man begins dryly. "I am Amar and this is George for those of you who don't already know. We are going to be your instructors. Transfers with me and others with George."

We wait silently until George and the Dauntless born initiates are gone for Amar to speak.

"Okay transfers, I'm Amar incase you happened to miss it the first time round." He grinned widely, surprising the majority of us, since he had started out with a scary, disapproving look on his face. "Why do you all look so shocked? I am capable of smiling. I'm not the big bad Dauntless wolf. I leave that to the leaders." Some of us laughed along, relived.

Tobias nudged me with his elbow. "I like him already," he mouthed.

"Me too." I whispered in reply.

"Okay then, let's give you the official tour of the Dauntless compound." Amar smiled, leading the way.

. . .

"Okay, this is the Chasm. Anyone want to have a swing off the side of it? If you do just tell me beforehand so I can make funeral arrangements. Anyone get the point there? Yes that's right, no hanging off the chasm or doing anything irresponsible, because ninety nine percent of the time you fall and die." Amar said all of this cheerfully, as if he were giving a lecture on how to take care of kittens and not a lecture on what not to do if you want to survive.

He lead us down another hallway and out into a massive room filled with hundreds of people. "And this is the centre of life for us Dauntless - and you too if you survive initiation - the Pit. It's a great name right?" Amar laughed. "I know, it's a little daunting." Everyone laughed. Even I found myself catching on to his infectious, sunny behaviour. Maybe not everyone in Dauntless was that bad...maybe I could pass as a true Dauntless and not a person who got Erudite through and through in their aptitude test...

"And finally we have your sleeping quarters? Plush right?" Amar was smiling again, and since he had worn the same smile for the last hour, I couldn't figure out if he was joking or not. The room was small, with eleven beds pushed together and small lockers crammed into every spare space. If this was their definition of plush, I didn't want to see their trashed.

"I'm joking guys, this is pretty bad - but it's only for ten weeks." Amar shook his head in pity. "If you like this though, you are going to absolutely love the bathroom." I decided that there was no way that I wanted to see the bathroom. I felt kind of bad for Tobias though - he was from Abnegation, where modesty was pretty much crucial. How were we going to survive ten weeks in this dump?

"Okay, well that is pretty much it for the tour." Amar grinned. "Get changed into the clothes provided for you over there." He pointed to the end of the room where there was a big stack of black clothes. "And then come down to the dining hall. Hopefully you remember where that is." He chuckled to himself. "And I will see you all tomorrow morning for training."

. . .

Tobias and I were in matching black jeans and jackets. Well... pretty much everyone was in matching black jeans and jackets. We were getting ready to go down to the dining hall, which I had helpfully remembered since Tobias forgot.

"I can't believe I forgot where the dining hall was." Tobias groaned. "It is like... the only important place here and I forgot how to get to it." Tobias, like many others, thought that food was the most important thing in the world.

"Isn't eating like... selfish?" I asked amused.

"Yes and so is breathing..." Tobias muttered. "No, as you probably already know because you are a know-it-all Erudite, in this wonderful place called Abnegation, we only eat plain, almost tasteless food. I am looking forward to having something tasteful again." Tobias sighed.

"Again?" I ask despite trying to ignore my inner inquisitiveness. This is only for conversation Eric, you're not an Erudite and you know it.

"My mom..." Tobias muttered. "Before she died, on my birthday she used to sneak a square of chocolate how for me, providing my dad wasn't there." Tobias looked away and I didn't press the matter.

"So are we going to get some good food or what?" I asked, trying my hand at cheerfulness.

"Of course, I'm starving." Tobias gasped. "Can you not hear my stomach eating itself?"

"Let's get going then." I suggested, amused at Tobias' mood swings.

We were just about to leave when...

"Darn it!" I heard someone scream in frustration. "Why am I back here."

Mai was at the door, looking as if she wanted to destroy something.

"Hey Amity!" Someone called from the other side of the room. "Aren't you supposed to be all peaceful?" He and his buddies laughed.

"Cute," she called back. "You actually think that you are funny." She stomped into the room and I could hear her muttering words like "idiot" and "asshole" under her breath.

"Hey Mai, wait up!" Tobias shouted after her. "What's wrong?" I nearly groaned in frustration. Why, oh why, did he have to take an interest in the Amity girl?

"What's wrong? I am absolutely starving and I can't find the frigging dining hall!" She huffed, arms folded tightly across her chest. I hated to admit it but... she looked kind of cute... No Eric, she looks horrible, ugly, stupid!

"That's okay, I can't remember how to get there either but Eric does." He replied smiling. "We can all go together." He slipped his hand into hers. I felt myself become filled with rage and jealousy. How dare he touch her, how dare he hold her hand. I couldn't quite grasp why I was feeling jealous - I did not, under any circumstances, like her. She was a stupid Amity who should have stayed away from Dauntless. And Tobias? He was just as bad.

So I stormed out of the room, eager to clear to my head and leave the two people, that I had only known for a few hours, and I was already getting too attached with, behind me.

"Eric!" Tobias called. "Eric! Where are you going!" But I ignored his pleas and left them behind. Still holding hands, and still being nice.

. . .

I sat at the dining table, sitting down on the first free seat in sight. I ended up sitting beside Amar and some of the Dauntless born initiates.

"Hey, it's Ethan right?" One of the guys asked, I recognised him as Zeke, the first jumper.

"Eric," I corrected.

"Oh right... you up for a welcoming initiation - Dauntless style, after dinner tonight?" He grinned mysteriously.

"Yeah sure." I answered, I would look like a coward if I said no.

"Great, come with us after dinner then - it's going to be great fun. Bring some friends if you want." Zeke smiled. Then he leaned across the table to a girl picking at some bread. "Are you coming Shauna?"

"I don't know Zeke..." She answered nervously.

"Aww, come on. It will be fun, besides I need you to make sure that none of the guys decide to rig my harness and kill me." He grinned. "A lot of jealously going around since I was the first jumper." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "And you were the one that made me go first and cheered me on, so it will be aaaaaaaall your fault and you'll never get to see my handsome face again and-"

"Okay, okay, for the love of God. If I say yes will you shut the hell up?" She sighed exasperatedly.

"Why yes, I believe that that can be included in the deal." Zeke smirked at her.

"Good." She went back to picking at her bread.

"Michael my man," he turned to the boy beside Shauna. "Swap with me, my girlfriend needs cheering up so that she can be enthusiastic for tonight." He grinned.

"Whatever Zeke..." He mumbled, getting off his seat and placing himself next to me. "Hey..." He muttered over to me.

"Hi." I replied, picking up a burger and stuffing it into my mouth, showing that I was not looking to start a conversation but was indeed listening to Shauna and Zeke's one.

"What would Lynn think if you didn't do this at least once?" Zeke grinned, tickling Shauna.

"Stop Zeke." She laughed. "My baby sister has way too much control over my life. She is trying to convince me to buzz cut my hair so that she doesn't feel so out of place when she does hers."

"Really? Well I think that would look beautiful on you - everything seems to look great on you. Uriah is trying to convince me to get a tattoo of his name of my neck. I think not right?" He laughed.

I tuned out of the conversation bored, they were talking about their little sisters and brothers, who were still with them. Lucy was still stuck in the Erudite headquarters until she transferred to Candor in a few years. I would never see her again.

"Hey! Hey Ethan! Are you coming or what?" I was instantly pulled out of my thoughts by Zeke waving his hand across my face.

"It's Eric." I bit back a growl, what was wrong with this guy?

"Sorry," he shrugged. "It's just Eric is a hard name to remember." I tried not to glare at him. One day everyone would remember my name. In a Dauntless way, whichever that was, and not an Erudite way, which included inventing or discovering something.

I would be a true Dauntless. I will.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

Hey! Hey! You, Eric, don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" I heard a female voice scream from behind me.

"What?" I spun around to face her, irritated. I knew she wasn't going to go away without a confrontation.

"Why did you leave us in the sleeping quarters?! Without an explanation!" Mai screamed at me. Why did she have to be in Dauntless? My life would be so much easier if she had stayed in Amity, I would have never have met her, therefore meaning my emotions would be less conflicted. She hadn't stopped screaming at me yet though... "Did anyone ever tell you that you are a right little arrogant b-"

"Woah, woah!" Tobias walked up behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. A little hiss escaped out of the corner of my mouth. She shrugged him off, much to my delight.

"No Tobias! I want an explanation!" She growled, glaring at me.

"I thought I saw someone I knew." I lied. "I'm sorry, I should have waited." I felt a little bad about lying but...

Her glare softened a little bit. "Well," she huffed. "Don't do it again. With your lack of manner, you'd swear that you were born in a barn."

"What, like you Amity?" Marie, the bitch from the train jumping exercise said, walking up behind her. Mai stiffened automatically and I saw her ball up her fists, indicating that she was angry.

"The Amity people don't use barns anymore, but I wouldn't expect you to know. Everyone knows that Candors are just plain stupid. That's why they always tell the truth - stupidity." I interjected before Mai could get herself into an unfair fight. Marie glowered at me angrily.

"Walk away," I continued. "If you care about your pretty face as much as you do making enemies, then you'll walk away." She stormed off in a huff, with her cronies trailing along after her.

I couldn't believe that I just stood up for the Amity, I groaned inwardly. I really had it bad.

"And I forgiven now?" I asked.

"...yes..." Mai sniffed. "But I so could have handled her myself, you know, if I wanted to."

"I'm sure you could," I answered, smiling down at her.

"Err..." Tobias spoke up. "I'm going to head back, I want to catch some sleep, I'm exhausted."

"Night Tobias." I answered politely. I had some manners despite Mai's accusation.

"Sweet dreams." Mai said softly. She wasn't going to go with him? As soon as Tobias was out of sight she turned to me. "Okay, where are you going?" She questioned.

"What makes you think I'm going anywhere?" I fidgeted nervously.

"Because you were heading down here before I stopped you and I don't know about you, but I don't think that they is anything casual for us initiates down there. So, I'll ask again, where are you going?" Mai lectured.

"The Dauntless-born initiates invited me to go to an unofficial "initiation ceremony" with them." I informed her.

"Cool, can I come?" She asked, her eyes shining in excitement.

"Fine..." I answered, my emotions conflicting against each other again.

"Great, where to?" She said cheerfully, slipping her hand into mine. My eyes popped slightly and my breath got caught in my throat. Mai was holding my hand... did I want her to? According to my racing heart, I did. Or in the very least my body did.

I enclosed my hand around hers as Zeke and Shauna walked past. "Follow those two."

. . .

We had gotten off the train and it was cold outside. Why were they getting out here?

Mai seemed immune to the cold, probably an Amity thing considering the amount of time they spent outside. I was surprised to find that she was still holding my hand. I think I was still holding hers. My fingers are so numb that I really can't tell.

We walked down Michigan Avenue, it was strangely empty. Usually it is very busy - it makes a nice change. I scanned our surroundings and suddenly, just like that, I know where we are going. The empty Hancock building, a black pillar with crisscrossed girders, the tallest building north of the bridge.

We were going to do the legendary Dauntless zip line.

"I hope you like heights and speed." I leant down to whisper in her ear.

"Why?" She inquired.

"Two words, zip lining." I bit my lip to suppress a laugh at her expression.

"My absolutely most favourite thing in the world..." She grumbled sarcastically. "Next time remind me not to go anywhere that you go, unless I know you are going somewhere that won't kill us, thus not including the Dauntless-born people who are somehow excellent at avoiding the grim reaper himself." She muttered.

"You didn't have to come." I pointed out.

"Well... I wanted to!" She snapped, turning her head away. It was hard not chuckle at her child-like antics.

"Which is it? Speed or heights? Both?" I wasn't supposed to care. I wasn't supposed to make casual conversation. I wasn't supposed to have brought her along like a friend. I wasn't supposed to stand up for her, care about her, _hold her hand._

She looked down like she was ashamed. "Neither."

"Then what's the problem?" I asked surprised. "Why are you acting so... uneasy?" I chose my words carefully.

"I'm... I'm not acting uneasy!" Mai burst in frustration. Definitely uneasy.

"Yes," I said calmly. "Yes, you are." I tried a bit of reverse psychology. "You don't have to tell me."

"You're right." She answered. "I don't."

Wait for it.

"But I will."

Told you so.

"It's... it's..." she blushed. "It's because I'm still holding your hand."

That was it? Well I most certainly wasn't expecting that.

"Holding my hand makes you uneasy?" I choked. "I thought that Amity's loved holding hands?" I glared at her. "But I guess it's just me. I bet you'd love to hold Tobias' hand!" Now I was acting like an overly jealous boyfriend. I shouldn't be acting like this. I should be rejecting those feelings.

"Excuse me?" She snapped. "Number one, I am Dauntless now. And number two, don't be such a presumptuous idiot!" And with that she stalked off leaving me alone in the middle of a crowd of Dauntless.

. . .

As we get closer, everyone starts to run so I join it, not really into it from my fight with Mai. We push through the doors and thread on a path of broken glass. I'm glad that I have good shoes on my feet. We all pile into the elevator and make our way on to the one hundredth floor. Or at least I presume it's the one hundredth floor, seeing as we are doing zip lining in a one hundred storey building. And we are Dauntless.

We get out of the elevator and a strong wind confronts me. There is a massive hole in the ceiling and a Dauntless woman drags out a ladder, it looks like aluminium, and props it up against the hole. We are going to climb.

I climb up the ladder eventually and wonder where Mai has gone. I haven't seen her since she stormed off. Maybe she went back to the Dauntless compound? On her own? Worry and guilt clamps itself around my heart. What if something happens to her? It will be all my fault... I turn around to see her being helped up off the ladder. She's okay... provided she doesn't get blown off the side of the building.

"Mai!" I jog over to her and touch her arm gently.

"What?" She turns to look at me. Her eyes are slightly red. She hasn't been up here long enough for the wind to make her eyes water. That must mean that... I made her cry.

"I... I just want to say that I'm, well, sorry for earlier on. I was just nervous about doing this and I took it out on you."

"Woah, Eric, apologizing to me twice in a day? I could get used to this." She smiled. I gritted my teeth. "Your apology is accepted."

She walks close beside me, leaning on me gently from the strength of the wind but she doesn't take my hand in hers again...

And I want her to.

To distract myself from Mai, I looked around, taking in my surrounding. On one side there is only brown marsh, it is ugly and empty. On the other side there is the city, with its many buildings and lights. The contrast is amazing.

I look around for the thing that we are going to rely on to keep us alive. It is a steel cable attached to one of the many poles on top of the tower. On the ground are a pile of black slings, they must be made of tough fabric right? They look like it. One of the older Dauntless pick the top one up and attach it to a pulley.

I came to a standstill. The wind was pretty strong, but I found against it. I stood pretty much straight while Mai was leaning fully into my chest now. It wasn't that bad seeing that she was so small and slender that there was no way that she could possibly withstand the wind with some support. To her credit, she didn't turn her face away into my chest. Would I have liked it if she did?

We all got into the line and Mai pushed me before her. "You first," she whispered to me. "I won't be able to do it unless I know that you are waiting for me at the end." I think my heart just did a little flip at her words."

"Okay," I agreed. There were only three people between me and the zip line.

Two.

One.

My turn.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

The Dauntless man picks up a sling for me and hangs it from the cable. I shiver, but not from the cold or the fear. I shiver from the excitement. I get in head first, wriggling and pushing, I have to fight a smile off my face.

He slides me forward and I can hear Mai cheering me on. I'm at the edge of the roof now and while I am incredibly nervous, I am also anticipating the moment that I go slicing through the air. It will be the best moment of my life, a feeling of absolute freedom... unless I fall. But the few people that went before me didn't fall, so I just had to have faith that I wouldn't. Statistics and numbers of whether I would fall or not began to enter my mind, but I pushed them away. I am not an Erudite any longer. I am a Dauntless.

The man releases me and I go flying in the air, weightless. I forget everything that I was just thinking about. Falling, Factions, Mai. All that I can feel is extreme terror and exhilaration.

It feels amazing to be rushing through the air, wind whipping my face, adrenaline pumping through my veins and I realise that I love it here and this is where I was meant to be. Dauntless. And it is amazing. I let out a whoop of happiness. Something I never thought I'd do. I thought that happiness was an emotion that I was never meant to feel.

I am getting closer to the ground now. I slow down and eventually come to a halt. I am around twenty feet in the air but it doesn't faze me. The people underneath me, form a net with their arms. I have to trust them. Trust has never been my strong point, but I feel that after letting someone put me into a sling and slide me all the way down here - without me falling, that if they wanted to kill me, I'd be dead. A little bit like the jumping exercise earlier on today through the hole to get to the compound.

I reach back and somehow loosen the straps that bind me to the cable wire. I wriggle around for a bit and then get free, falling down towards their arms. For a moment I worry that they aren't going to catch me, that they are going to let me fall to the ground - until I feel the hands underneath me. I hear laughter as I am lifted back down to the ground.

"So what did you think?" One of the Dauntless members who had gone before me asked, obviously recognising me as an initiate.

"That was great!" I grinned. I laughed and tried to come back down to earth for a minute, discussing the zip lining with a few random people. Until everyone surged forward to catch the next person. Probably Mai. So I joined them in forming a net of bodies and waited for Mai to come down.

. . .

"That was amazing!" Mai cried, as we walked through the halls, trying to find our way back to the sleeping quarters.

"I know right." I answered, still giddy from the experience. I still had a small smile on my face from the adrenaline rushing initiation ceremony, and I hadn't been quite able to put my emotionless mask back on yet.

"And the wind rushing through your hair, and the weightless feeling like you are flying!" She grinned at me. "I want to do it again!"

"And to think that you were nervous at first." I teased.

"I know, I know," she mumbled. "I am ashamed, but seriously, I don't have a clue how you weren't. We were like, a thousand feet up in the air, flying towards the ground at top speed. It seemed like a suicide mission. And then you were like, just standing there and you weren't shaking or anything." Mai giggled. "You were so... fearless."

In response to the compliment, my small smile that I had worn after the zip lining experience just cracked into a large grin and I felt like letting out another whoop of happiness. This so wasn't like me. In a matter of twenty four hours I was a changed man. It was unreal. We walked in silence for a few minutes after that.

"You should smile more often." Mai said out of the blue as we passed the dining hall. "It really lights up your face and makes you look really handsome." I turned to look at her in surprise, but she had already turned her head away.

"Thank-you," I whispered, not quite able to manage anymore. I cleared my throat awkwardly. Well since we were having a confession moment. "But unfortunately for me, I am nothing like you." She turned to me confused, probably trying to figure out if that was a compliment or not. I decided to elaborate. "You don't even need to smile to look pretty. In fact when you do it isn't fair on everyone else because you just look utterly amazing and beautiful and nobody can help but fall in love with you."

Now it was my turn to look away. I had said too much.

"Umm... thank-you." Great, now I had frightened her away. This is why I didn't want to let my feeling run too deep. I shouldn't had let them in the first place. I was getting too attached, too sentimental. I should have fought harder to resist her.

Everything was silent for a moment and I was fully sure that Mai had walked away, or was just staying to be polite and never talk to me again after tonight and just avoid me... until I felt someone grab my hand and squeeze it tight. I turned to look at her, she was still here, amazing. And she was holding my hand for the second time that day. Even after my awkward confession.

But... how did she take those words? As a friendly truth? Or more? I suddenly felt panic seize my heart and hold it tight. I didn't want her to take it the 'in love' way. That would probably lead to feelings and I wasn't capable feelings, since I had been born and raised in Erudite by a family that held no emotion what-so-ever. That and I would have to take my infatuation to another level and it scared me. What if I really wasn't capable of loving anyone? What if this wasn't really love? What if I was feeling something completely different? All of this would only lead to Mai being hurt and I didn't want to hurt her. I wanted her to happy. Even if that meant her being with Tobias.

Wait... when did Tobias get introduced to the conversation? And why every single time that I thought of Mai and Tobias with their arms around each other, touching each other, _kissing _each other, that I got instantly jealous and a murderous rage filled me? It shouldn't matter to me if they were together or not.

But still I held her hand all the way back to the dorms, and still when we reached the entrance, I didn't want to let her hand go. And when she did let it go, because her bed was on the other side of the room, why did I feel disappointment and longing?

"Night Mai." I said quietly.

"Sweet dreams Eric." She whispered back, and she hugged me.

And I swear, never more in those two moments did I want to kiss anyone so badly. I just really, really wanted to feel her lips on mine and kiss her, and have her kiss me back.

But as always I didn't. In that way, I was a coward. A coward who couldn't face his fear of being rejected or the fear of not being able to feel emotion.

And that whole night, long past the time that everyone came back - including a Candor couple who had definitely been out drinking - I spent the hours regretting the decision that I had made of not kissing her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

"Up initiates! Now, no time to waste!" Amar's cheerful voice roared in the morning. I groaned at his upbeat voice, of course he would be a morning person. I pushed myself into a sitting position in the bed, trying to wake myself up somewhat. I been up half the night. I groggily pulled myself out of the bed and dressed myself with fumbling fingers.

"Ten minutes and then you should be at the dining hall for breakfast!" Amar continued. "I'd advise you to stack up on the coffee though, you are going to need a lot of energy - and you have to be awake - for today's exercise." He grinned. "See you soon."

"What time is it?" A Candor transfer in the corner groaned. I recognised her as one of the people who came in drunk last night. By the way she had been acting, it seemed like she had had a lot to drink. She must have a killer hangover for the first day of training.

"Six." Someone answered. I sighed mentally. Of course it would be early.

"That early?" Tobias asked. "Are they serious? But I'm so-" He was cut off by a massive yawn. "-tired."

"Aren't we all." I answered groggily, rubbing my eyes.

"Nope." Mai bounded over. Yet another morning person.

"How do you function with such little sleep?" Tobias grumbled.

"Little?" Mai asked.

"It was like, half eleven when we got back." I informed her.

"So I got like... six hours? That is brilliant!" Mai flashed a smile at me. "It was really quiet, so easy to just drift off." Tobias looked at her as if she were crazy. "In Amity we had a lot of roosters who couldn't tell the different between night and day. Or maybe they just snored really loud. Either way I never got much sleep."

"Lucky bitch." A passing guy commented, I think his name was Antony. I tensed automatically. "I would give anything to be a morning person." He stumbled and fell onto Tobias, knocking him to the ground. "Sorry man," he said, giving a hand up.

"No problem." Tobias yawned, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. I was pretty sure that Tobias was angry, because of the way his eyes hardened, but he didn't pick a fight. Probably too tired.

"Are you sure?" He insisted.

"Yes, go get some coffee, wake up, don't trip into anyone." Tobias gave a dry laugh. "I'll walk down with you, I need some food anyways." And with that he stalked off.

"Wow, he is just a little ray of sunshine isn't he?" Mai said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I totally want to wake up with his every morning." That comment threw me off. Jealousy flared up inside of me once again.

"W-what?" I asked, shocked and confused.

"You know," she nudged me to the side with her elbow as she straightened out my duvet. "Could you be any more messier? This is like a pig sty. Did your mother ever tell you to make your bed every morning." I had to restrain myself from strangling her.

"Not about my bed, about waking up with Tobias?" I repeated unhappily.

"You make that sound like I want to sleep with him." Mai wrinkled up her nose in mock disgust, and this make me feel a lot happier and secure. "Not that he isn't attractive." She pointed out. "I just would never be able to think of him that way. He's too... I don't know, to himself. And as I think you all ready know, I love to share." She giggled.

"Yeah..." I just nodded, I had totally lost track of the conversation. I should have also guessed that Mai would love to ramble. Or just say whatever enters her mind, not caring if it made sense or not. Was this girl Candor or Amity?

"So, are we going to find Tobias and Andrew and eat, or what?" She asked.

"Andrew? I thought his name was Anthony?" I asked, confused yet again.

"Hey, it looks like the Erudite is leaving his old ways behind." She laughed.

"Yeah? And the Amity has a bit more work to do." I pointed out, highlighting the fact that she was once again holding my hand. So much for Dauntless not having much human interaction besides fighting...

"Maybe I'm not doing because I'm an Amity." She whispered mysteriously and flitted away to find food, while I just stood in the dorms in a standstill, trying to figure out what she meant.

. . .

"Okay people! I hope that by now you are awake!" Amar's voice was once again very upbeat. In fact, if someone had told me that he was on a sugar rush and had started bouncing off the walls, I would be at all surprised. I was awake though, I had made sure of that.

"Now, the first thing is that your Dauntless leader, Max, is here to give an announcement that will affect all of you. Well... most of you." Amar stepped aside to give Max the limelight.

"Good morning transfers, what I have come to say can pretty much be summed up in a sentence: You have chosen us and now we will choose you." He stopped and took in the shocked, heavy silence of the room. "This has been said to Dauntless initiates, transfers and Dauntless-borns alike, for years. It is the Dauntless ritual and it won't be changed anytime soon so I would just accept it and try hard." Max looked around again, with a cruel glint in his eyes.

I wasn't expecting this, that was for sure. But I could get the point, you can't be scared of failing and the Dauntless won't accept cowards.

"You will," Max continued. "Be ranked on how good you do in your activities. Amar will tell you a bit more about that. At the end of each section we will have a board, displaying all the scores, and the people under the red line will be cut. Everyone understand?" There was a murmur of yes through the small crowd. "Great, any questions?"

"What happens to us if we are cut?" Someone called out from the audience.

"You will become Factionless." Max announced, no pity or sympathy in his voice. Instead there was a faint trace of... satisfaction? Then again, you say how he was with Mai on the train...

"Any other questions? No? Okay then, I shall see you soon." And with that he was gone, leaving us all tangled up in panic.

"Sorry guys," Amar interrupted. "Self pity another time, but for now we got to go. Onto the train all of you, I'll tell you what we are doing when we have all boarded."

. . .

I stood beside Tobias - Mai had been socialising and trying to make friends - and listened to Amar talk.

"Okay, first of all we are going to learn how to shoot a gun, maybe how to throw a knife if we have time. Probably not though. And the second thing is that we are going to learn to fight."

Excitement spread through-out the crowd.

"Hey! Hey! I said learn! No-one is going to actually fight each other yet. Or else we'd have some people dead and others embarrassing themselves." Amar shook his head. "And if that happens it is me who gets it trouble for not being a proper teacher. So my classroom, my rules. It's like being back in school again. Rule number one: No talking while I'm talking. Yes, I am saying that for your benefit blondie." He directed his comment to the blonde Candor boy, who was caught up in a conversation.

"It's Denis." He answered.

"I don't particularly care." Amar replied. "Anyway, rule number two: Follow orders. I'm still talking to you blondie."

It went on like this for a few minutes until I eventually just zoned out. Until Amar shouted for our attention.

"Get ready, we jump in five." Amar grinned, but since when didn't he? I was almost sure that he was an Amity transfer, only thing is that Mai is the first Amity to transfer in quite a while, just as Tobias with Abnegation, and as far as I know, there has never been an Amity able to complete the initiation ceremony.

"Sir!" Someone called. "Before we jump, how many stages are there to the initiation?

"First off it is Amar - no exceptions. And there are three, physical, emotional and mental. Now jump in, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!" And I leapt towards the ground yet again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent.**

"Line up!" Amar orders when we have all jumped off the train. For once we did as we were told without having to be asked twice. I guess we were all eager to get the first day of training started with. Tobias stood on my left hand side, Andrew on my right. Mai had gone to the other side of the line.

"Okay," Amar started as he walked around and gave everyone a gun. "We are going to learn how to shoot today - targets now, not each other. Dauntless is about bravery and strength not who can kill each other first." He pressed a gun into my hand, the metal was smooth and cold.

"We believe that preparation helps you act in the midst of fear, so the three different stages all prepare you in a different way." Amar had finished handing out the guns and was now standing in front of us again. "Incase you didn't hear me on the train, those three stages are going to prepare you physically, mentally and emotionally. Now, are there any questions?"

"What does a gun have to do with bravery?" Mai piped up from wherever she was. I knew it was her by her voice.

"It prepares you to be able to defend yourself and not wait for someone else to save you." Amar answered. "Anyone else?" No-one spoke up. "Great, now I am going to show you how to shoot, watch and remember."

Amar faced a wall that had targets on it. A square of plywood with three red circles on it.

"Okay, so hold the gun with both of your hands - no matter how cool it may look with one hand. Feet a good distance apart. Aim and-" He was cut off by a loud bang. I looked at his target. It went straight through the middle.

"Don't worry if you don't get it perfect the first few times. You are here to learn and practise. Try to hit the wood though." And he walks away to the other side of the room.

"Now we don't have enough targets for all of you so pair up and take turns."

I face Tobias and realise that he has paired up with Andrew, okay so who else is here? Mai? Wasn't she just over the other side of the room?

"How did you get here?" I asked confused, positioning myself.

"Magic." She replied. "I walked of course, I wanted to see how good you and Tobias would be, you know, compared to my brilliant self." She laughed, and her eyes gleamed with excitement, but there was a little bit of worry in there. She was a Amity-born, she technically wasn't supposed to be doing this.

"It'll be okay." I tried to reassure her.

"Duh," she flicked her ponytail off her shoulder. "I bet I can hit the middle before you." She held the gun and fired, she obviously hadn't anticipated the force of the bullet and stumbled back. The bullet hit one of the corners of the square.

"At least you hit it." I told her before taking my first shot. I held the gun out in front of me, it was heavy enough for the size of it. I wondered how someone has small as Mai was able to lift it at all. She must have had a lot of practise with boxes in Amity.

I fired and was also surprised by the force of the fire, but was able to stand up straight. I hit the second circle.

Humph, I bet that I can do better than that." Mai sniffed. "I was just caught off guard the first time, that's all."

"Sorry guys, I just hit the middle." Tobias laughed.

"You're not included." Mai smiled. "We all know that you would be a star student, now go, leave us be and don't rub the fact that you are good at this in our faces."

"Fine then, at least Andrew is nice to me." Tobias stuck his tongue out at her.

"If Tobias is good what am I?" I asked.

"Your average." She answered grinning.

"And yourself?"

"Absolutely amazing, see?" She pressed the trigger and shot the middle of the target. "I won."

. . .

"Okay, okay, maybe you are better at shooting than me, but there is no way that you will beat me at fighting." I told Mai. She had hit the middle the majority of times and I had hit it about a third.

"Don't under estimate me Eric," Mai smiled. "I might just surprise you."

"What did you do? Bully all the other Amity kids, you witch." I laughed.

"No, but I'm sure it can't be that hard to pack a punch if you know where to hit." She smiled mischievously.

"Like?"

"You'll see when we get to fight." She answered, mysteriously. "There's Andrew and Tobias! Come on!"

. . .

After lunch we are back at the main part of the compound again and led to a different room. It is huge with a wooden floor that is creaky and a little cracked. It is such a state. It has a big circle painted on in the middle and immediately I wonder why. On the left wall is a chalk board. Fourteen names, our names, are written on the wall in alphabetical order: Andrew, Connor, Ella, Eric, Marie, Mai, Nicolas, Percy, Sean, Shane, Shantelle, Theresa, Tobias, Xavier. Hanging, with a few feet spacing them out, are black punching bags.

"Line up!" Amar roars again and once again we do as we are told without complaint.

"Now for part two. I am going to teach you how to fight. This is absolutely necessary if you want to be a Dauntless member." Amar said it without a smile on his face, for once.

What if I had to fight Mai? Or Tobias?

"Today is training and tomorrow is the real thing, so you had better get practising!" Amar announced. That little time? Amar demonstrates, repeating each punch three times, to make sure that we are able to wrap our heads around it.

"Now initiates, find a punching bag and start." Amar left us to practise.

At first I find it hard. Only hitting the punching bag and gaining red, sore hands and no victory. But then I think about my life before moving to Dauntless. Erudites. My parents. Intelligence. And suddenly all that anger is being taken out on the punching bag. Thank God it is strong material, or I would have to get a replacement.

I hadn't realised that Amar had been walking around and examining everyone, and giving them tips until I heard him call my name.

"Eric!" He snapped. I turned to look at him, breathing heavily. Thank God he had been smart enough not to touch me or he would have had a broken jaw. I had really gotten caught up in that session.

"I was just saying that you should channel your anger, use it to motivate you but don't get caught up in it and let it direct your hits. But other than that, well done." Amar moved on to the next person and I decided to take a breather to try and calm down. All I could hear was my heavy breathing and the sound of fists and legs hitting the punching bags.

I looked around for Tobias, he was hitting the bag pretty aggressively, but his hits were more controlled and precise. I wonder what had made an Abnegation so angry. I then searched for Mai, she wasn't too shabby either, compared to some of the others in the room. Her only problem was that she was small and didn't have much weight on her. Amar went over to her and started to demonstrate where she should hit and touching where she should put the tension in her body. I turned around abruptly, I couldn't watch... but I did have a fresh burst of anger to take out on the punching bag.

. . .

Amar finally dismissed us a little while after, saying that most of us were pretty good and that we were to keep it up for tomorrow. My anger had gone and I was pretty sure that Amar hadn't made a move on Mai, because he had done the same to Shantelle and unless he was a player, which didn't really suit his personality, he wasn't into her.

"Hey Tobias, Eric, Andrew." Mai skipped over with a smile on her face. "I don't think that I did too bad today, you know, considering my size and all." She grinned. "I was watching ye though, you all aren't bad either. In fact I'm kind of hoping that I don't get one of you tomorrow."

"Why?" Andrew laughed. "Scared that we'll ruin your pretty face?"

"No," Mai retorted. "I'm scared that I'll ruin yours. I can be lethal when I want to be. For all you know I could be faking this small little girl thing - I could be really strong inside."

"I guess we'll see tomorrow then." Tobias said.

"Yeah, and I'll prove you wrong!" Mai smiled. "Anyways I want to get a piercing."

"Piercing?" I asked surprised.

"Yup, I want to get my eyebrow done. I think it would look cool." I tried to imagine her with an eyebrow piercing. I couldn't do it.

"You? With an eyebrow ring?" Andrew would probably be laughing if he didn't know that it would hurt her feelings and that she would probably punch him in the face.

"Not an eyebrow ring, what if my hair got knotted in it. I want the studs." Mai let out an exaggerated sigh.

"You could always cut your hair." I told her, focusing on her mid-back length hair.

"No, I like it long." She retorted. "Anyways I'm going if you want to come, well come, if you don't, well don't." And with that she walked off, or rather skipped.

"I'm going." I told the two guys.

"Okay," Tobias answered. "I think that I'm going to get a tattoo with Andrew anyway."

"See ya." Andrew replied.

And with that I followed Mai.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

I tried my hardest to spot Mai through the huge crowd of people in the Pit. It was near impossible to actually find her, because Mai was so small and everyone else seemed so tall. When I realised that there was no way that I was actually going to find her, I gave up and searched for the piercing store instead. If she was going to get a piercing like she said she was, then that was the obvious place to go. Well... it was really the only place to go.

I made my way through the suffocating throng of people - thank God I wasn't claustrophobic or anything - and found myself standing outside the piercing shop. I stepped inside and found myself surrounded by thousands of all different kinds of studs, rings and other things. Where they were placed was clearly labelled on top of the glass shelves and cases. You could get a piercing anywhere really, mouth, eyebrow, stomach, cheek, ear, private parts - anywhere. I thought that most of them very amazing, there was actually only one kind of piercing that I was intolerance of... a spreader. Those things were just... well, nauseating, but if that was your thing, who am I to judge?

I gazed around longingly at all the wonderful pieces of 'jewellery' and wondered which one I should get first. They were all so amazing.

"Which one are you thinking about getting?" I heard someone laugh behind me. It was a young woman that had her fair share of piercings. Her left ear was practically covered and many of the silver studs and gold rings decorated her face.

"I don't know," I smiled. "They all look so amazing."

"Initiate?" She asked, but she didn't really need an answer. "If it's your first, I'd suggest something small and easy. Also something easy to remove and out of the way since you are going to be fighting in training for a while." She grinned. "Do you need help?"

"Uh yeah, I think I do." I smiled back at her. What was it with me and smiling lately? I seemed to have a permanent grin on my face. This was so unusual for me. "What do you suggest?"

"Well... definitely a stud, rings are easily ripped out - trust me, I know from experience. If you were a girl, I'd probably suggest your belly button, but you're not a girl - unless there is something you're not telling me. I think an eyebrow piercing will do, and I bet it will suit you too." She answered, showing off her knowledge on the topic, intentionally or not.

"Okay cool." I replied.

"Great, I'll give you a minute to decide on which stud you want, umm... you know what, I never got your name." She laughed.

"Eric." I answered her. "And yours?"

"Isabelle." And with that she disappeared out the door on the other side of the room. Isabelle... she was friendly.

"Eric!" Someone gasped in surprise, that 'someone' happened to be the person that I had followed here. "I thought that you had gone for a tattoo with the guys or something." Mai had appeared through the door that Isabelle had disappeared through.

"No, piercings are more of my thing really." I answered shortly, not really sure what to say, still looking down at the studs and studying every single one, trying to decide which one I liked best.

"What are you getting?" I heard soft footsteps and her breathing got louder, she had walked nearer to me.

"Eyebrow." I answered, still trying to decide between all of the studs that were placed before me. All so unique and all that I wanted. "What did you get?"

"Belly button. I was going to get my eyebrow done like I told you but I didn't want anything that could be seen as a weakness when we start fighting each other." I looked up at her and smiled.

"Weakness?"

"You know, someone goes, 'she has a ring in her eyebrow, let's just yank it out.' My belly is hidden beneath clothes." She explained.

"Cool..." I was back to examining the many different things that I could place in my eyebrow. "Can you help me here? I really don't know what to pick!" I sighed, frustrated.

"Hard decision?" Mai asked. I nodded. "Hard decision for you, easy one for me." I was about to snap at her for rubbing it in my face that she could find one that stood out for her, when I realised that that wasn't what she had meant at all. She meant that she could easily find the right one for me. And she was pointing at something inside the glass case. "Number forty-three." She said.

Number forty-three was a outstanding dark blue eyebrow bar, and admittedly, I loved it at first sight.

"How did I miss that?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mai shrugged. "Clearly I have a better eye than you."

"No way, I just... skipped over it." I stuttered. Mai ha walked even neared now, she was touching me lightly and she was so close now, so, so close...

"Can I see your piercing!" I gasped, as if I were drowning. She stepped back and nodded.

"Yeah sure," she said, disappointment in her tone. Why would there be disappointment in her tone?

She tugged her tank top up and revealed her stomach and on her belly button was a black butterfly. I could guess what it was supposed to represent. Herself. An Amity turned Dauntless.

"That looks really good - it suits you." I smiled, still shaking from what had happened only seconds ago, Mai so close, close enough to hug, close enough to kiss... Stop it Eric, I mentally berated myself. Before I could start up a conversation with myself, Isabelle came through the door.

"Have you picked one out?" She asked.

"Umm... yeah, number forty-three." I answered, looking down at Mai, she smiled reassuringly.

"Really? Good choice, I can tell that it is going to look really great on you." She said cheerfully. I thought I saw Mai tense up.

"Come on then, and we'll get it over with." Isabelle continued. "It shouldn't take long."

"I'll wait here for you." Mai whispered.

"Sure, I'll see you in a minute." I answered, following Isabelle through the door.

Inside the door was a small room with a reclining chair sort of thing. I guessed that I lie on that.

"Lie down on that, don't worry, it's really comfortable." Isabelle motioned towards the chair.

"Okay." I answered, my palms beginning to sweat. It's okay Eric, you are only getting a piercing, it's not like you are zip lining off the Hancock building again.

"Did you to the zip lining thing last night?" Isabelle asked, swapping my eyebrow with cleaning alcohol.

"Uh yeah I did." I answered. "Did you?"

"Yes, I saw you there. You were so brave for a first timer, you seemed fearless. That poor girl, the one outside, was shaking like a leaf though - I thought she was going to faint." Isabelle laughed. My fists balled up once again, how dare she talk about Mai like that.

"It was the wind." I defended. "She's not used to wind like that."

Isabelle just gave me a grin, like she knew that I was lying.

"Okay, this is probably going to sting." I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see want she was going to do. Probably better that way.

I felt a sharp pain on my eyebrow that lasted a few seconds and then was replaced by a freezing cold cloth.

"Here. Keep this on for a few minutes - it helps with the sting." Isabelle informed me, taking off her disposable rubber gloves.

She cleaned away some bits and pieces and then put her hand on mine and removed it from the cloth on my eyebrow. She pushed me back down on the seat and straddled my lap. Then, before I knew what was happening, she was kissing me roughly.

And I was so filled with shock that I froze to the chair unable to think straight. And I was just about to push her off when the door swung open, and Mai stood at it. A question posed upon her lips, but it was never asked. Tears filled her eyes and she turned away in the precise moment that I managed to get Isabelle off me.

"Mai!" I called after her. "Mai!" And like that I was off the chair and running after her, leaving Isabelle confused on the floor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

"Mai!" I called frantically, rushing out of the shop. "Mai!" But Mai was nowhere to be seen, she had vanished. I felt awful, and angry. Why hadn't I pushed Isabelle off sooner instead of thinking about how much I wished that it was Mai on top of me? I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down, the last thing I needed to have was a broken hand from smashing the glass window of the piercing shop. But why had Mai been so upset?

I walked through the crowd of people, searching for Mai everywhere. Where could she be?

"Eric! Eric! Over here!" I heard someone call. It was Andrew and Tobias.

"Uh hey..." I muttered distracted. "How was it?"

"It was grand," Andrew beamed. "I like your eyebrow piercing - it suits you."

"Thanks." I answered, still searching the swarm of people for the little blonde Amity. "What did you get?"

"A tattoo of a tiger on the back of my neck." Andrew answered. "It was sore but worth it."

"Cool," I nodded as he turned around to show me his tattoo. "And you Tobias?"

"Don't bother asking him." Andrew snorted. "He won't tell me what he got. All I know is that he is starting a tattoo sleeve well... on his back. No matter how pervy this sounds, I can't wait to see him shirtless." Andrew laughed. I gave a tight smile.

"Have any of you see Mai?" I asked.

"No, I thought you were with her?" Tobias answered, his eyebrows pulling together with worry. "Is everything okay? You look tense, and worried."

"I'm okay," I answered. "I'm going to find Mai. Talk to you later." And with that I left Tobias and Andrew confused in the middle of the Pit.

. . .

I walked to the training room, I thought of what a douche I had been. I liked Mai, so why had I let Isabelle kiss me? I let out a low growl of frustration. And why had Mai been so upset? I had searched everywhere for her, to no avail. She had simply vanished. She wasn't in the Pit, any of the shops, the sleeping quarters, and nobody had seen her. So now I was on my way to the training room to let off some steam and prepare for tomorrow.

As I got closer to the training room, I heard the faint thump of someone beating at a punching bag. As I got even closer, I heard angry groans and shouts. I heard panting of exhaustion and frustration. I wondered who was in there, I knew the training rooms were open for entire Dauntless population. Staying fit in Dauntless was pretty much a necessity.

As I opened the door, I was surprised to see Mai standing at one of the heavy punching bags and attacking it violently. I guess she was right when she said that we shouldn't underestimate her. Looks like she could work up a sweat if she ever so wanted to.

"Mai?" I asked, keeping my distance. I didn't fancy a bust up lip or a black eye from a small, innocent looking girl. She stopped for a moment and turned to look at me.

"Oh, it's only you." She said, and started punching and kicking the bag once again.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned about her.

"I'm perfectly good, why would you think anything other?" Mai answered panting with exertion but not stopping.

"Are you mad?" I asked her, not sure why she would be mad but with the way that she was beating the crap out of the punching bag...

"No, not mad." She panted, still hitting the object with as much force as she could manage.

"You are mad." I pointed out.

"How observant of you." She bit venomously at me.

"Why are you mad?" I asked, confused and hurt. I had no idea why I was hurt.

"I-" but I didn't hear the end of the sentence, or the beginning really, because Mai had stopped mid-sentence, stopping hitting the bag, and was panting heavily, doubled over - clutching her stomach. I stood still for a few seconds and then Mai lowered herself onto the ground, breathing heavily and clutching her head.

"Mai!" I called out, and was standing beside her in a split second, not caring if she hit me for it. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she choked. "I'm just dehydrated. And tired. That's all." She glared at me, as if I shouldn't care and that it wasn't any of my business. She grabbed the water bottle off the ground and chugged on it for a few moments, before recapping it.

"You're mad at me."

"Thank-you for pointing that out Captain Obvious." She glared pointedly at me.

"How mad?" I questioned, probably pushing her to breaking point, which would certainly end up with me having a broken nose.

"Mad enough to make you hope that you don't have me as your opponent in the ring tomorrow." She spat, getting up. I was confused, this wasn't the Mai I thought I knew, this was an angry person that hated me, like so many others.

"Mai!" I called after her. "Why are you mad at me?" But she didn't answer and when I looked up, she was gone.

I walked over to a punching bag and took a deep breath, before absorbing myself in my anger and hitting the punching bag so hard that I was sure that it would split. Leaving clouds of dust in the midst with every hit, punch and kick.

I hoped I didn't get Mai too. That would be a disaster.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

When I step into the training room, I instantly put my eyes onto the blackboard, searching for my name and ignoring everybody else's. I was fighting Connor. I relieved sigh escaped out of my mouth, I had been worrying that it might have been Mai.

I skimmed down the list again, Tobias was fighting Shantelle - an easy fight for him, there was no way he could lose, Shantelle was rubbish at fighting. I had watched her for a bit yesterday, he only advantage was that she was smaller, quicker perhaps. And Mai, Mai was against Andrew. I instantly felt dread well up in the pit of my stomach. What if Andrew hurt Mai too much? Sure she could fight decently, but Andrew had all the advantages, tall, heavier, faster, better aim.

I tried to take my mind off Mai, I could worry about her later, for now I had to focus on my own opponent. I studied Conner. He had blonde curly hair and bronze skin. I couldn't make out his eye colour from where I was standing, not that it mattered. He was about as tall as I was, six foot, maybe an inch or two taller at most. He was scrawny though, where as I had some muscle on me, no matter how small. I could easily take him, I hoped, it looks like I'm stronger from here at least.

Amar entered the room. "Sorry guys, got a little held up. Won't happen again, I promise." Amar gave an easy grin. "Today, as you all know, we are going to fight each other! I'm sure that most of you have read the board by now and figured out who your competition is." There was a murmur of agreement. "Wonderful, okay, first group up are... Tobias and Shantelle. Into the ring you two."

I watch as the fight starts, it doesn't last long, not even five minutes. As I said before Shantelle isn't much of a fighter, one hit to the face and she was unconscious on the floor.

"Okay," Amar clapped, putting a circle around Tobias' name. "Well done. Next up: Ella and Xavier." I watched as the two danced around the ring and tried to hit each other. Both got a good few hits, but no-one was really getting anywhere, until eventually, after ten long minutes, Ella managed to knock Xavier to the ground and pin him there.

"Can we stop now? Because I don't think it's going to get any better than this." Ella panted, keeping her weight on Xavier, her head turned to Amar.

"I suppose so, but you really have to work harder guys." Amar complained. "It really isn't good enough." But he put a circle around Ella's name regardless. They walked out of the ring wordlessly.

"Next up, Marie and Theresa. Come on girls, prove to me that you are better than those two messers over there." Amar laughed. "And start."

Five minutes later Theresa had been kicked to the ground.

"Well done Marie, you all right Theresa? Go down and get some ice for her Ella, down the hall to the your left." Amar commanded. "Now we have Shane and Percy."

I was bored at this stage and just drifted off into own little world.

"Winner is Shane!" Amar announced. "Now we have Eric and Conner." My head snapped up at the sound of my name.

I walked into the ring, Conner following suit. He seemed confident but he was reeking of nerves. Perhaps I was too.

We stand across from each other and we put our hands up, to protect our faces, we shuffle around in a rough circle. I attack first and get a good solid punch in, square in Conner's face. He unexpectedly crashes to the ground. I stand there frozen as Conner is knocked out cold.

"More ice Ella!" Amar sighed. "Another one knocked out." He puts a big ring around my name, and I join Tobias.

"Well done." He pats me on the back. "I won't say that we had good fights though, it's not like we fought to the death."

"True." I agreed. "We both knocked our opponent out in less than two minutes. I wasn't expecting mine though, Connor seemed pretty good to me yesterday."

"Probably just nerves." Tobias said, going silent.

"Okay, Sean and Nicholas." Once again I didn't watch the fight, nothing interesting happened anyway. Sean won.

"Mai and Andrew." As we heard their names being called, Tobias and I froze. I was hidden under a mask of pure and utter terror for Mai's safety, but she seemed confident enough... if you didn't look at her hands.

As they prepared themselves, I felt my heart in my throat, I wanted to desperately stop the fights, to proclaim that it wasn't fair. But I couldn't, as much as it pained me to sit there, quiet and obedient beside Tobias.

"And start!" Amar roared.

Mai got the first punch in. And the second, and the third. She was a right vicious animal. Then again, I had seen her last night in the training room, and she had hardly been small and fragile there.

I took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm myself, even if I wasn't the one in the ring.

Andrew looked a little taken aback at Mai ferocity, but soon got over his surprise. He danced for a while, looking for an opportunity to hit Mai, and he soon got one. He managed to get a kick in her shin, knocking her off balance, and throwing her to the ground.

For a moment I was sure that she wasn't going to get up, but then she was on her feet again and bouncing around. Her ponytail flopping around everywhere, a look of anger on her face. She used this to her advantage though, as she whipped around, as quick as lightning, and slapped him in the face with her hair. New technique. I spared a glance at Amar, who seemed to be laughing silently. I couldn't blame him though, how many times do you see a girl whip her ponytail at someone as a fighting technique?

My eyes returned to the match, where Andrew had just finished blinking the watery tears out of his eyes from the strands of hair. Mai was back again though and she kicked him in the... place that should never be kicked... Andrew fell to the ground in pain.

"Okay! Okay! I forfeit! I forfeit!" He cried in agony.

"I don't blame you man," Amar said sympathetically as he circled Mai's name. "Well done though Mai, interesting techniques you used." Mai just gave him a tired smile. "And Ella, if you don't mind, more ice - and lots of it. This poor fellow is not feeling the love right now." Amar grinned.

Mai walked over to Andrew and Tobias followed suit. "Are you okay man?" Tobias chuckled. Andrew just groaned.

"Sorry Andrew," Mai gave an apologetic smile. "I got a little... caught up." Andrew just gave her a thumbs up.

. . .

"Can I talk to you?" I asked Mai, as we walked down the hallway.

"No." She answered.

"Come on, I don't even know what you are so angry about!" I protested.

"Maybe it's because I like you a lot, and I thought you liked me too." Mai fumed. "And then I walk into you and that girl," she spat the words 'the girl' as if they were poison. "and you making out, like you hadn't just met five minutes beforehand." She fumed. Then she covered her mouth, realising what she had just confessed.

"I do like you!" I snapped. "I thought you didn't like me, and I was trying to respect your personal space bubble." I frowned. "That's why I didn't kiss you after the zip lining and why I didn't kiss you when you were so close in the piercing shop. Because I respect and care about you."

"Well you clearly didn't respect or care about the piercing lady!" Mai cried.

"That's because I don't!" I defended. "She kissed me, not the other way around. And if you had hung around a little longer, you would have seen that I pushed her off and went after you. I spent the whole evening looking for you, because when Isabelle..." Mai cut me off.

"So her name is Isabelle is it? Great. Eric and Isabelle sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." Mai muttered bitterly.

"Will you shut-up and listen to me for a minute!" I yelled. "When I was kissing Isabelle, all I could think was how I wish that her lips were yours and then I pushed her off!" I screamed frustrated.

Mai stopped dead in her tracks."Really?" She asked. "Did you really think that, or are you just making this up by the second?"

"Or course I really thought that," I scoffed. And then I was standing so close to her that I could feel her breath on my shoulder.

And then I had pushed her onto the wall and I kissed her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

I pushed Mai against the wall and kissed her. I have no idea where the courage came from, but it had worked. I was kissing Mai. I still had her pressed against the wall, my lips on hers. She had one hand around my neck, pulling my closer, and her other was trapped against the wall. Not that she really noticed. I had one hand around her waist and the other tangled in her hair - her ponytail had become loose during the fight. After a few minutes we had to stop, breathless.

"Wow..." She breathed. "That was unexpected."

"I know," I gave a small smile. Other than that I was speechless.

"I'm still mad at you." Mai said sternly, ruining the effect by giggling.

"What for again?" I teased. "Was it for... this?" And I started to tickle her relentlessly.

"S-stop," she squirmed around, trying to free herself from my grasp.

"No way, this is way too much fun." I laughed. Try as she may, Mai couldn't escape my torture or resist the giggles bubbling up on her lips.

"P-please." She begged. "I'll do," she hiccupped. "A-anything."

"Okay," I said easing up. "Kiss me again."

. . .

When we were finished with our little 'make out' session, we went to find Andrew so Mai could apologize to him.

"I feel so bad that it had to be him." Mai fretted as we walked down to the dining hall, where we were sure that we would find Andrew and Tobias, seeing as it was dinner time.

I scanned the room, before spotting them at the very edge of the room, chewing thoughtfully on burgers. "There," I pointed them out to Mai. I watched, amused, as she skipped over to them, and I followed Mai closely. Well, it was hard not to, my footsteps were worth about two of hers.

"Hi Andrew, hi Tobias." Mai walked up to them solemnly.

"We saved you seats." Tobias pointed out. One seat beside Andrew, the other beside him. Mai took the seat beside Tobias, and I walked around to the other side to sit beside Andrew.

"Are you okay now Andrew?" Mai asked, looking at Andrew from across the table. "I didn't mean to hurt you..." She trailed off, knowing that she had. "Well, that bad anyway."

Tobias laughed. "He's okay now Mai, only his ego is bruised. He is now known as the guy who got beaten up by an Amity."

"Oh God, I am so, so, so sorry Andrew." Mai frowned, angry at herself.

"It's okay," Andrew spoke at last. "If it weren't me, it would have been you. Besides you have some very... interesting techniques in how you fight." He gave a small smile.

"That she does." Max, the Dauntless leader, was once again behind Mai. She jumped a little, and her shoulders grew tense. "Amar was telling me about your little fight and I must say, I am very proud." He grinned, but it didn't look at all nice or welcoming. "Keep up the hard work." He touched her shoulder lightly and walked away. Mai looked as if she was about to throw up. I let out a breath, not realising, that I too had been tense.

"What is it with him and coming up to you?" Tobias growled, glaring in Max's direction at the same time that I had asked if Mai was okay.

"I - I'm gonna go." Mai took a shaky breath, standing up. "See you guys later." Her hands were shaking, I knew something was up automatically.

"What's wrong with her?" Andrew asked, worry for his friend evident in his eyes.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." I said, standing up.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Tobias asked.

"No, I'm good. I'll catch you later." And then I left, Andrew and Tobias staring at my back as I walked away, confused.

. . .

"Mai?" I called softly. "Mai, are you here?" I entered the training room, almost positive that I'd find her here, working up a sweat. Find her I did, but there was no working out whatsoever.

"Mai?"

"Go away." She sniffed. Why was she crying?

"Mai, are you okay?" I asked, walking nearer to her, until I was just behind her. "What's the matter? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying." She snapped at me. Her red eyes told me otherwise.

"Yes, you are. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong or not." I answered, sitting down on the ground next to her.

"I-it's just..." she sniffed. "I, uh, hurt Andrew. And Max said it was good." She answered bitterly. "He was proud, and anything that makes Max proud is a bad thing." She looked away. "I'm an Amity, I'm not supposed to hurt people..."

"That," I said looking at her coldly. "Is the lamest excuse I have ever heard in all my life."

"Excuse me?" She turned to face me.

"Mai, I know for a fact that you are not an ordinary Amity damsel in distress. You can fight and shoot a gun, and you enjoy it. If hurting people was your problem, you would have had a mental breakdown in the ring today, but it isn't. You felt guilty yeah, because Andrew is your friend, but nothing else. You were perfectly fine until Max came up to us." I told her.

"Maybe because when Max said it was good, I realised that it was bad." Mai was sticking to her story.

"You and I both know that that isn't the reason you ran off and came in here, crying."

There was a short silence.

"What business is it of yours anyway?" Mai asked angrily.

"Well I think it is my business if something makes my girlfriend cry." She quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Girlfriend? I don't recall you asking me to be your girlfriend." Mai said, rolling her eyes. "Boys... so presumptuous."

"Why bother asking when I know the answer?" I grinned arrogantly.

"Yes why..." She murmured sarcastically. "You know, you have to take me out on a date before I'll agree to be your girlfriend."

"That can be arranged." I mumbled, a silly grin plastered on my face.

"Good." She stood up and started to walk out of the room. "Night Eric."

"Night Mai." I grinned foolishly at her until she was out the door... and then I realised that she had managed to squirm herself out of the awkward situation of someone or something making her cry.

Damn that girl.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent. **

**A/N: I personally love the ending of this chapter :)**

When I got back to the dorms with Andrew and Tobias, Mai was asleep. I wasn't as cruel as to wake her up, though I certainly thought about it. I decided to leave my questioning until tomorrow. I hadn't told Andrew and Tobias about the kiss that Mai and I had shared, but why should I? It was personal business, and I had enough respect for the both of us not to boast about it...

. . .

The next day was more fighting. I went in hoping that I didn't have to fight Mai, and thankfully I didn't. Instead, she was against Tobias.

"Oh c'mon!" Mai groaned beside me. "That is just cruel," she whined. "I could take on Andrew because he wasn't expecting it, but now Tobias knows that I can fight - and he's good."

"Well I'm against Marie," I told her, a slight smile on my face. This I would enjoy.

"Give her a few knocks for me, yeah?" Mai grinned. "Usually I'm not this violent and bloodthirsty, but God, she deserves it." I nodded as we sat down on the bench, and watch Amar walk in.

"Okay guys, more fighting today! I expect better fights okay? Much better fights. Yes I'm looking at you Ella and Xavier. Yesterday's match was disappointing." He looked at the board. "Okay, up first, Andrew and Shantelle!"

As pretty much everyone could have guessed, Andrew won the fight easily - although, Shantelle did put up more of a fight this time.

"Next up is... Eric and Marie!" Amar announced.

I stepped into the ring and looked at Marie. She sneered at me, and I glared back. I was going to win this fight. We shuffled around, as usual, and she made the first move. Surprisingly though, she actually managed to catch me in the ribs with her foot. I was angry now, and ignored the ache spreading its way through my side. I punched her in the side of the face.

She wobbled, and was momentarily caught off guard. I made a beeline towards her, and punched her again - sending her flying to the floor. I stood over her, and kicked her in the side, before giving her one finally knock to the head - for Mai - and knocking her out cold.

Ella pulled her out of the ring as Amar circled my name.

I sat back down beside Mai, she gave me a nod of approval. "That was a decent fight," she whispered, as the next contenders were send to the ring.

"The last punch was dedicated to you," I gave her half a smile. She returned it with a full one.

In truth, I was feeling weird. I knew that I should feel bad for hurting someone on purpose, by beating them up. But I didn't. I felt... powerful. And I knew that this feeling was dangerous.

. . .

"Mai and Tobias!"

Mai and Tobias' fight was the last for tonight, and I felt my stomach churning like I was going to be sick. It was a pretty unfair fight. I mean, Mai wasn't defenseless, but compared to Tobias... she had no chance.

I watched as they looked at each other, shuffling around the ring. Both of them were hesitant, yet eager. "C'mon pretty boy," I heard Mai tease. "Don't be afraid." And with that, she swung the first punch and set the ball rolling.

In all fairness, she done an alright job considering Tobias' weight, size and strength, but Tobias was much better. He aimed a punch at her, and she neatly dodged it - only to be struck by the second one. The force was hard, and Mai crumpled to the ground groaning. I looked at the ground, I didn't want to see this.

Then I heard Tobias yell in surprise, and found that Mai had tripped him to the ground. She was trying to get up and launch herself at him, but the punch really had her out of balance. She looked as dizzy and sick as I felt. I watched as Tobias scrambled up off the ground, and with one more punch, it was over. Tobias had won.

I watched as Mai was taken out to the hospital wing, and I wanted to follow her even though I wasn't allowed to leave until Amar had finished talking. I waited until he turned around to leave, and ran out of there. Pretty sure that Tobias and Andrew would soon follow in my tracks.

I reached the informatory, where Mai was sitting on a bed, for once no smile on her face.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hi," she answered, staring into space.

"Are you okay?" She shook her head.

"No, I'm very, very dizzy, and right now I want to kick Tobias' ass." She looked up at me. "Plus, I'm starving, but I can't walk straight. Trust me, I've tried."

"Need help?" I asked. She nodded gratefully.

She stood up, and I was at her side immediately. I rested a hand on her back, and held her upright, while we walked, slowly, to the dining hall. We walked into the room and over to where Tobias and Andrew were waiting for us. We sat down across from them, Mai clutching the bench to hold her upright.

"Hey Mai," Tobias smiled weakly. "Are you okay?" She glared at him.

"I would be if you hadn't wounded my pride like that. I know that you pretended to fall to the ground so that I wouldn't look bad. Right Eric?" I looked up at her confused.

"Umm... I don't know. I didn't see that bit." I admitted. Mai rolled her eyes.

"Of course you didn't," she sighed. "Anyway, I've decided that if I get Eric next time, I'm done. I can't stand the fact that I've already fought with two of my friends..." She sighed.

"Only Eric isn't just a friend," Tobias laughed under his breath. All three of us turned to look at him in shock.

"W-what?" Mai said, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Umm..." Tobias stuttered nervously, obviously we were not meant to hear that.

"Yeah, what did you said?" Andrew's voice cracked.

I stayed silent - I was speechless.

"Well... err... think about it. You two go everywhere together. When Mai disappears Eric goes after her, and Mai is always close to Eric, and holding her hand and stuff." Tobias stutters through every word.

"So what is the story, guys?" Andrew asked, looking at the both of us.

"Umm..." I muttered as Mai blushes.

"I knew it!" Tobias announces. "Cough up Andrew dearest!"


	13. Chapter 13

After that slightly embarrassing discovery, Andrew and Tobias returned to the dorms to give Mai and I some 'couple time', much to our amusement. Mai and I had kissed once , and hadn't even discussed what had happened.

"So..." I started, leaving the sentence open.

"So what?" Mai asked, picking at a bread roll.

"Umm... what exactly are we?" I blurted out. "Because honestly, I have no idea."

"Well..." she thought about it. "It could be labelled as friends with benefits." I felt my heart droop with heavy disappointment... friends with benefits... is that all? "But," she continued. "I have no idea about you, but I want more." She avoided my gaze. "I want to... go out with you." I breathed a sigh of relief and she looked at me, confused.

"Great, we are on the same page." I smiled at her. "Now I'm going to have to organise a date, right?" I asked.

"Aww look, you are reading my mind already," Mai patted my shoulder with a bright smile on her face. "Don't worry, we are in Dauntless, I don't expect much." I rolled my eyes at that.

"Of course you don't expect much... Now bring over my plate for me while I think woman."

. . .

The next day, we had a break from beating each other up, and got to go on a fieldtrip instead. We got up at the same time though, unfortunately. I made my way to the train station with Andrew.

"So, you and Mai are like a couple now?" He asked.

"Umm... yeah," I answered. "But apparently she's not going to make it official unless I take her out on a date. I have no idea where I can take her though..." Andrew nodded.

"You'll find something," he said. "There has to be somewhere." He paused. "Don't hurt her Eric, or I'll hurt you twice as hard back." I looked at him.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Mai would have me dead before you even knew."

We stand in the crowd, and I see Amar at the front of the crowd, telling people to get on. When we have all climbed in, Amar hoists himself up. He sits in front of us all, as the train starts to move, and closes his eyes, resting against the wall of the car. He doesn't move again until the train stops.

We all jump out of the train car, and we are met with a barbed wire fence, that is guarded by Dauntless soldiers with guns. Nobody can go outside the fence, it is protected, but nobody knows what is outside the fence, nobody knows what we are being protected from.

"This way," Amar says, and for once he is serious. He has no smile on his face. "If you don't get into the top five places in the initiation, then you'll probably end up here." Amar tells us, heading towards the gate. I think about the limited job options. I'd like to become a tattoo artist or something, but I would love to get a government job. I'd have to come first to get that.

Soon it was time to go - not that I was that disappointed. It wasn't really that interesting, and I didn't intend on working here if I could help it.

I wanted the power. A government job.

. . .

The next day we have more fights, it was Tobias against Andrew, which obviously Tobias won, and I was against Xavier while Mai was against Ella. We both won our matches thankfully.

It was then announced that we were going out to do a little 'exercise' with the Dauntless born. We have to run to the train tracks and are greeted by Amar, who is smiling again, and George, who is rolling his eyes at whatever Amar had just said.

"Okay, everyone grab a gun - quickly!" George shouts, turning around and continuing to talk to Amar, ignoring the hustle bustle there is to grab the guns. There are boxes upon boxes of paintballs stacked beside the guns.

"We are going to shoot something!" Mai cried happily.

"With paintballs," I told her.

"We are going to shoot something... with paintballs!" She repeated, laughing. "Wait... _paint_balls?"

"Yes, please tell me you know what they are." I sighed at her, my Erudite ways coming back a little.

"Of course I do - it's self explanatory, but I presume that we are going to shoot each other, and paint is the worst thing to try and get out of your hair." She complained.

"How do you-" I began.

"Do not ask, you do not want to know," she answered solemnly.

"Yes I-" she cut me off again.

"Ah-ah-ah! Trust me on this one, you do _not _want to know."

. . .

Amar and George start to explain after we are all on the train.

"We are going to be playing capture-the-flag. There will be two teams of both Dauntless-born and transfers. One team will get off first and hide their flag, then the second team will follow suit further up the line." Amar explain.

"This is a Dauntless tradition, so have fun but also take it seriously. The winning team gets a little boost on their ranks if they play hard enough." George says. "Amar and I will be team captains." He grins at Amar. "Ladies first."

Amar scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Fine George, but it is rude to suggest that yourself goes first." George glares at him playfully.

Tobias and I are on Amar's team, and Andrew and Mai are on George's team. Amar gets landed with a sassy Zeke, while George picks Shauna separating the two, who will undoubtedly make this a competition between each other. Our team gets off first, and George's stay on the train to get off second.

We hide the flag by the Navy Pier, at the Carousel, after much debating. I spot the Ferris Wheel in the distance and look at it in awe. I think that it would be amazing to go up on it, and look at the stars from the top. It doesn't look as if it works though... maybe if you climbed it. It would be amazing if you knew that if you fell, it would lead to your immediate death.

Amar tells us how this exercise was to promote the importance of teamwork, and I struggle to agree with him as I have never been part of a team in my life. I guess it is never too late to try being part of a team though... We vote on what strategy that we should take, and decide on the offensive. We hide the flag and attack.

Tobias decides to stay behind and guard the flag, but I want to go out and find the flag. And so I run.


End file.
